Is Prince Philip in Good Health?

Prince Philip has been married to Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years and is the longest-serving royal consort in history but since he is in his late 90s now there have been questions and chatter for years regarding his health. Those concerns hit a fever pitch when he retired from his royal duties in 2017 and fueled rumors that he was doing so for health-related reasons. But is that really why he decided not to carry out any more royal engagements?

Here’s more on if the Duke of Edinburgh’s retirement had anything to do with his health and why he isn’t spending as much time with the queen these days.

Prince Philip’s retirement

Prince Philip | Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Since he’s been the consort of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip has had 22,219 solo engagements, given 5,496 speeches, and written 14 books. He was once one of the hardest-working members of the royal family but decided to officially retire on Aug. 2, 2017.

“The Duke of Edinburgh will no longer undertake his own program of public engagements,” a statement from the palace read. “The Captain General’s Parade will bring His Royal Highness’ individual program to a conclusion, although he may choose to attend certain events, alongside The Queen, from time to time.”

His retirement didn’t have anything to do with his health but everything to do with the fact that he was 96 years old and it was time to stop after so many years of service. Even Her Majesty has scaled back on her royal affairs as well and no longer travels overseas for any engagements.

How healthy is Prince Philip?

Prince Philip | Yui Mok/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Philip is actually in pretty good health for his age. His only recent health-related issues came in June 2017 and April 2018.

In June of last year, he was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to a hospital after being diagnosed with an infection. Then, in April 2018, he was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital for hip replacement surgery. He was discharged the following day and six weeks later was able to attend the wedding of his grandson, Prince Harry, to Meghan Markle.

Prior to that, The Sun noted that the duke had “a stent in his heart a few years ago, but he loves fishing and sometimes stands for hours in the River Dee. For his age he’s as fit as a fiddle.”

Where spends most of his time without his wife

After living so much of his life in the public eye, Prince Philip is seen much less now as he no longer stays at Buckingham Palace. The prince has retreated to Norfolk where he stays at a residence on the royal Sandringham estate called Wood Farm. Of course, Queen Elizabeth is not yet retired so she still spends the majority of her time at the London palace.

The Daily Beast reported that the prince has basically moved out of Buckingham Palace and has only spent a “handful of nights” there since officially retiring.

“He very much enjoys Wood Farm, and he and the queen still see each other at some point in the week or weekends,” the source said. “They see each other depending on Her Majesty’s schedule, but she works around it to see him as much as possible.”